New Hope Publishers :: Publisher’s Blog


Football Stars and Fans
27 January, 2009, 7:14 pm
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , ,

There is no doubt that football is exciting because of the fans. I want to hear the noise and see the excitement that comes from a stadium of fans willing to sit in subzero temperatures to see their team in the playoffs. I love seeing the crazed fan painted blue and orange, or wearing a Cheesehead.

This football season I became a fan of football stars who risk declaring their gratitude to Christ as they receive awards for outstanding performance. I never grow weary of their absolute commitment to declare their faith in God before television viewers in the millions. I wonder how many people in places all over the world decide to give Christ a try because their hero declared his love for our Savior.

Just recently my sister made a commitment of an evening to view a program on the History Channel because of her love for a friend. Isn’t this what moves us to try something we wouldn’t naturally do on our own? Because I love my sister, I watched the same program, so we could discuss it and share in a common experience.

Last week the hero of many became our 44th President. Barrack Obama is the role model that many young people are desperately looking for as they continue to struggle against the tide of the past. Whatever our personal political commitment, we cannot deny the story of slavery and poverty that marks the experience of the Africans who were brought to our country against their will, not to discover the freedom of America, but to live in bondage to the wealthy. To this day, political and social pockets of prejudice suppress the desires of many to take hold of the same opportunities as their neighbors.

I am a fan of hope. I am a fan of freedom. I am a fan of role models that offer possibilities for better thinking, better living, and better serving. My commitment is to pray for this President, knowing that God’s purposes for our nation and our world are indeed sovereign. And in Him alone will people find true hope and true freedom. May we think with the mind of Christ. May we live the abundant life. May we serve sacrificially.

Leave a Comment


A Discipleship Lesson from 1943 China
23 January, 2009, 2:43 pm
Filed under: Andrea Mullins

1. Be still.
2. Express thanks.
3. Accept Christ into your life for today.
4. Find out God’s plan.
5. Hear God speak through Scripture about your part in His plan.
6. Remember your duty to witness for God in example, character, home, work, and spare time.1

By the flickering light of a peanut-oil lamp, early each morning Eric Liddell and a roommate studied the Bible and prayed for an hour. No doubt, Liddell’s unreserved commitment to God equipped him to be the guiding light for prisoners from nearly 20 nations who spent two years in a Japanese interment camp in China during World War II. Liddell’s plan worked, even in the worst of conditions. His friendship to Christ strengthened him to encourage his fellow prisoners until his death a few days before the end of the war in 1945.

Have you taken time to start thinking about your personal discipleship in 2009? When I led a workshop last week on prayer, I was surprised to see the room fill to overflowing. The desire to grow closer to God was evident in the questions and the response to what I had to say.

There is no better time than now to put your plan in place for discipleship in 2009. What is your plan for becoming like Christ in 2009? How will you be strengthened to be Christ in example, character, home, work, and spare time in 2009?

Excerpted from: Eric Liddell, The Disciplines of the Christian Life (New York: Ballantine Books, 1985), 17-18.

Leave a Comment